Almost all girls dream of getting married. Watching couples meet and fall in love in romantic comedy films shows you a perfect picture of what love should look like; however, some will find out later in life that it isn't always like that. On the other hand, those who've found "the one" while just learning how to navigate puberty deserve special mention.

But is marrying your childhood sweetheart really as magical as it sounds? We asked around ... and found that it isn't always so. Here's why:

1. You can hide no secrets.
Given the eons of time you've known each other, your husband can read you like a book. Every facial expression, every minute twitch of your facial muscles, your entire vocabulary of body language—he can figure you out like Sherlock Holmes can solve a crime scene. So even though you pay him a compliment, you bet he knows you’re really not digging the new shirt (or bike!) he just bought.

2. You can say goodbye to surprises.
Or, it would take a whole production team to orchestrate any surprise. Given that he knows you so well, surprises for your birthday would require help from your friends and family, unless you risk ruining the surprise because he’ll know something's up. Attempting to give him an out-of-the-box surprise present will probably fail, and you'll eventually end up exchanging it for the gift you originally wanted to give him. It's a double-edged sword, really.

3. It can get boring at times
You've already got a system going that works for you both. You've been past the trial-and-error stage of figuring out schedules, parenting quirks, deal breakers—you've ironed out everything, and we don't mean the clothes. Well, you’ve gone through more life changes than most couples, and you’re still together.

4. Your life is an open book to everyone.
He knows your entire family, even your entire extended family. Your cousins, second cousins, even your titos and titas by marriage. When he misses out on a family gathering, everybody looks for him; you’ll sound like a broken record trying to explain his absence. When he misses two family gatherings in a row, everyone will be concerned that your marriage might be in trouble when really, it’s not.

5. Your social circles merge.
When you fight and seek solace from a friend, it wouldn't be a surprise if your husband eventually turns up there as well. If you're thinking about breaking up (just don’t!), consider that you’ll be seeing each other at every party you attend, because you'll have the same set of friends. In fact, you could create a whole Facebook group with all 200 of the common friends you've accumulated from your high school days, college, your first job, your second, etc. It's not so bad, though, when you try asking for Candy Crush lives.

6. You feel old just thinking of your time together.
The word "reminisce" takes on a whole new meaning. When you think of that time you first met, you actually realize you go waaaaay back. You have a lot of memories to look back on, both good and bad, weird and awkward. That awkward time when you had braces, or when your breasts couldn’t fill your bra, or that time when his first car broke down and he didn’t know how to change a flat tire yet. Ah, those were the days.

7. You have a lot of what-ifs.|
Well, being together for a long time bring those thoughts up. What if you ended up with someone else? What if you didn’t go to the same college together? What if this, and what if that. But the moment you see the life you’ve built together, and the beautiful, happy little kiddos you’re raising, you’ll tell yourself that you've made good choices beginning with your high school sweetheart: the first essential decision you’ve had to make.

This story originally appeared on Smartparenting.com.ph.

* Minor edits have been made by the Femalenetwork.com editors.